Fluffing and renovating machine



Filed Feb. 9, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

ATTORNEYS.

y 1940. P. SAPPINGTON FLUFFING AND RENOVATING MACHINE Filed Feb. 9, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet z xQ44/4 d4kP/A/67-0/v INVENTOR.

...................... Ilia.-. .4 v ,1 44M? A TTORNE'YS.

May 21, 1940. P. SAPPINGTON FLUFFING AND RENOVATiNG MACHINE F'iled Feb. 9, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheets /404 34P v/v6 702v 1N VEN TOR.

A TTORNEY S.

' May 21, 1940.

FLUFFING AND RENOVATING MACHINE INVENTOR.

A TTORNEYS.

P. SAPPINGTON 2,201,303

Filed Feb. 9. 1938 4 Sheets- Sheet 4 Patented May 21, 1940 IFA'E'ENT OFFECE FLUFFING AND RENOVATING MACHINE Paul Sappington, Les Angeles, Calif., assignor of one-half to J. C. Rosenthal, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application February 9, 1938, Serial No. 189,701

4 Claims.

This invention relates to a machine designed primarily for fiuffing and renovating materials such as kapok, feathers, cotton fiber, hair, down, etc.

It is an object of the invention to provide a machine which serves not only to fluff and aerate the material while passing therethrough, but also to direct the treated material into porous or nonporous containers to fill them.

It is a further object of the invention to pro vide a compact and efficient machine of this type the working parts of which travel about a common axis and act successively to separate the material, fluff it, and forcibly expel the same into the containers provided therefor.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims, it being understood that changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawings:

Figure l is a central vertical section through the machine.

Figure 2 is a section on line 22, Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a section on line 3-3, Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a section on line il, Figure 2.

Figure 5 is an enlarged elevation of a bag holder and one of the fasteners thereon,

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the separating, flufling and suction blade, the parts being separated.

Figure 7 is a View, more or less in diagram} showing how the fiuffed material is delivered into a non-porous container so as to gradually fill it.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference l designates a suitable supporting structure carrying a casing 2 which, as shown in Figure 3, can be provided with several outlets 4 from which extend spouts 5 through which fluffed material is adapted to be delivered. Each outlet is adapted to be closed by a gate 6 secured at one side and adapted to swing about an axis 1, there being an arm ii outside of the delivery spout and movable with the gate. A pivoted latch 9 or the like can be suitably mounted on the casing I and moved into position to engage this arm 8 for the purpose of fastening the gate in closed position. This latch can be of any desired construction.

The chamber within the casing 2 is substantially circular and located in the central portion thereof is an integral tubular hub It carrying anti-friction bearings H which serve to center a rotatable sleeve 12. This sleeve projects above and below hub It and provides a bearing for a shaft is. The lower portion of this shaft is journalled in the bottom of a gear case M securely fastened to the bottom of housing 2 and speed multiplying gears l5 are located in the gear 1 case and serve to transmit motion from shaft 13 to sleeve 12. Shaft i3 is joined preferablyby a resilient and flexible coupling Hi to the shaft ll of an electric motor 18 located in the supporting structure l and fixedly held by any suitable means such as a transverse framework l9. 7

The top of casing 2 has a large central opening 20 surrounded by an upstanding annular flange 2 i. This flange is bolted or otherwise secured to a feed tube 22 fitted snugly in the opening 20 and projecting a short distance upwardly into the open bottom of a feed hopper 23 which is securedto and supported by the top of the housing 2.

The lower portion of the feed tube 22 projects downwardly into the chamber in housing 2 and is formed with spaced depending blades it constituting separating elements. These separating blades are regularly spaced and. have wide openings between them. They constitute continuations of the wall of he tube and thus are arranged in a circular series. A disk 2 is securely fastened to the upper end of the shaft I3. This disk extends under and is spaced from the blades 23' and has its periphery located at a point sub- 13 stantially mid-way between the feed tube 22 and the adjacent wall of the casing 2, as shown particularly in Figure 1.

Formed on or secured to disk 24 are inner and outer annular series of blades. The inner blades 25, which are regularly spaced, are located within the area defined by the feed tube 22 pro.- ject upwardly between the blades 23. These blades 25 which constitute movable separating blades, have their inner sides inclined upwardly and outwardly as shown at 26 while their outer sides are preferably perpendicular to the disk 24 as shown at 2 The outer blades, which have been indicated at 28, are located at the periphery of disk 2 and are regularly spaced. These blades, like the blades 25, are disposed along lines radiating from the center of the disk. Blades 28 constitute inner fiuffing blades and are arranged to move in a circle outside of the tube 22. They extend to points close to the top of housing 2.

Secured to the upper end of the sleeve l2 and located below disk 24, is a lower disk 29 of greater diameter than disk 24 and provided at its periphery with regularly spaced outer flufling blades 30 which extend upwardly past disk 24 to points adjacent to the top of housing 2. These blades 30, which are closer together than the blades 28, travel in a circle outside of the path of the blades 28. Sufiicient clearance is left between the outer fiufiing blades 30 and the wall of housing 2 to permit fluifed material to travel downwardly into the area below disk 29 where there are located a plurality of depending suction or fan blades 3|. These blades are preferably so pitched as to throw material outwardly by centrifugal force, the back spaces of the blades being engaged by suitable reenforcing webs 32 which can be made integral with them and with disk 29.

It is to be understood thatthe outlets 4 are all located below the level of the disk 29 so that the blades 3| will move across these outlets during the rotation of the disk.

The material to be flufied is placed in the hop,- per 23 and when the motor I8 is energized shaft l3 will be driven at a high speed, thus causing the blades 25 and 28 to rotate rapidly within and without the feed tube 22. At the same time motion will be transmitted from shaft l3 through the train of gears I5 to sleeve l2 which will cause disk 29 to rotate at a greater speed than the disk 25 with the result that the outer flufiing blades 30 will be driven in the same direction as the blades 28 but at a much greater speed. The fan blades 3| will also be driven at a high speed, thus setting up a suction downwardly from hopper 23 through tube 22, outwardly between blades 23, and thence past blades 28 and 3B and downwardly into the lower portion of the chamber in casing 2 where the material will be thrown outwardly by centrifugal force and thus be delivered through any one of the outlets 4 which may be open.

When the material is drawn downwardly by suction through tube 22 it will be engaged by the rapidly rotating separating blades 25 as it is endeavoring to flow between the stationary blades 23. This will result in the material being torn apart and should there be any undesirable substances such as seeds of kapok, these will be separated from the fibers before the material leaves the tube. As the material is thus broken up it is gradually pulled outwardly from between the blades 23 by the force of suction and is then engaged by the rapidly rotating blades 28 between which it will flow radially. During this movement the fibrous material will be engaged by the blades 30 rotating at a higher speed and as a result of the action of these two series of blades 28 and 30 on the fibrous material, said material will be thoroughly aerated or fluffed and will ultimately pass outwardly from between the blades 30 and be sucked downwardly by the fan blades 3|. If

one of the gates 6 has been opened, the fluffed material will be thrown outwardly through the open outlet 4 and into any container which may have been placed in position to receive the same.

It will be noted that the. inner fluifing blades 28 are smaller than the outer flufiing blades 30 and that these outer flufiing blades are smaller than the fan blades 3|. In addition to functioning as fiufiing means, the blades 28 and 30 also set up a suction and, because of the increasing area of the blades in the direction of the outlet, the suction created by the blades 28, 3B and 3| willin- 'crease'in the direction of the outlet so that there will be no danger of material choking the ma chine. Furthermore, as the blades 28 and 3B are radially disposed, they will easily throw out material engaged thereby so that it will not become hung thereon.

For the purpose of filling a container outlets or delivery spouts of special form are preferably used. For example, and as shown in the drawings, each spout can have an enlarged outlet end 33. A breather tube 34 is secured in the enlarged end portion of the spout and has one end located at the center of the outlet end of the spout while the other end portion of the breather tube is extended obliquely to and through the wall of the spout, the outer end being open at 35. A stationary jaw 36 is mounted on the outer surface of the spout and cooperating therewith is a pivoted jaw '31 from which is extended a lever 38. This lever can be locked against movement while the jaws 36 and 31 are in clamping position. For example a spring rod 39 anchored at one end, can be provided with a downturned end seated in an aperture 40 in lever 38. A projecting node 4| can be mounted on the gripping surface of jaw 3'! for extension into a corresponding recess 42 in the opposedstationary jaw 36. Thus when a bag or other container is placed with its open end around the delivery end of the spout 5, it can be gripped between the jaws 36 and 31 and securely held during the filling operation.

By providing a breather tube 34 located as stated, the filling of the container can be efiected Whether or not it is formed of a porous material.

As shown in Figure 7 the current of air escaping through the spout 5 and into the held container and carrying with it the fiufied material, will carry said material into the container C where it will be piled up at the closed end and along the wall while the air itself will turn back and escape at the center of the spout through the breather tube 35. As this circulation of air continues, the fluiied material will continue to flow into the container and gradually build up therein while at the same time the air pocket P in the container will be gradually reduced as the fluffed material continues to be supplied to the container. Ultimately the container will be completely filled with fiuiied material which can then be removed and closed and another substituted therefor.

Importance is attached to the fact that, by providing a breather tube centrally positioned as explained, the apparatus can be used for filling containers which are not porous and from which air ordinarily could not escape during the filling operation.

Obviously the material can be taken off at any of the outlets simply by opening the respective gates. Where more than one container is being filled at the same time, the said containers can be attached to different outlet spouts, and the gates of said outlets opened so that the material will be distributed to the separate opened outletsand the containers in communication therewith.

What is claimed is: i

1. In a machine of the class described the combination with a casing having an inlet and an outlet, of a feed tube at the inlet opening into the casing, superposed disks, spaced annular series of separating and inner flufiing blades on the upper disk, stationary separating blades extending from the tube and between the separate series of blades on the upper disk, an annular series of outer flufling blades on the lower disk blades on the disk, stationary separating blades and extending around the upper disk, means for rotating the disks simultaneously in the same direction but at different speeds about the axis of the feeding tube, and fan blades depending from the lower disk and rotatable within the casing for setting up a circulation from the inlet to the outlet of the casing and between all of the blades.

2. In a machine of the class described a casing having a peripheral outlet and a centrally disposed top inlet, a lower disk mounted for r0- tation in the casing between the inlet and the outlet, an upper disk supported close to the lower disk, both disks being coaxial with the inlet, means for simultaneously rotating the disks in the same direction, the upper disk at a slower speed than the lower disk, a stationary feed tube within the inlet and having spaced depending blades extending close to the upper disk, spaced separating blades upstanding from the upper disk and movable across the inner sides of the teeth on the tube, spaced liumng'blades upstanding from the upper disk adjacent to the periphery thereof and in aserie's extending around the blades on the tube, spaced fiufiing blades extending upwardly from the lower disk beyond the periphery of the upper disk, and fan blades depending from the lower disk and movable therewith in the plane of the outlet, the area of the blades extended upwardly from the lower disk being greater than the area of the outer blades on the upper disk and less than the area of the blades depending from the lower disk thereby to set up an accelerated suction from the inlet to the outlet.

3. In a machine of the class described a casing having a top inlet and a peripheral outlet, superposed closely arranged rotatable disks in the casing between the inlet and the outlet, means for driving the lower disk ata greater speed than the upper disk but in the same direction therewith, an inner series of upstanding separating blades on the upper disk, an outer series of upstanding combined suction and flufiing extending between the inner and outer blades on the upper disk, combined suction and huffing blades disposed in an annular series on and extending upwardly from the peripheral. portion of the lower disk and outwardly beyond the upper disk, the suction capacity of these blades on the lower disk being greater than that of the fluffing and suction blades on the upper disk, and fan blades depending from the lower disk and of greater capacity than the upwardly extending blades on said disk, said flufiing and fan blades cooperating to set up a suction increasing from the inlet to the outlet, thereby to prevent choking.

i. In a machine of the class described a casing having a top inlet and a peripheral outlet, superposed closely arranged rotatable disks in the casing between the inlet and the outlet, means for driving the lower disk at a greater speed than the upper disk but in the same direction therewith, an inner series of upstanding separating blades on the upper disk, an outer series of upstanding combined suction and fiufling blades on the disk, stationary separating blades extending between the inner and outer blades on the upper disk, combined suction and flufilng blades disposed in an annular series on and extending upwardly from the peripheral portion of the lower disk and outwardly beyond the upper disk, the suction capacity of these blades on the lower disk being greater than that of the fiufiing and suction blades on the upper disk, and fan blades depending from the lower disk and of greater capacity than the upwardly extending blades on said disk, said flufiing and fan blades cooperating to set up asuction increasing from the inlet to the outlet, thereby to prevent choking, all of the blades being radially disposed thereby to expel engaged material by centrifugal force from engagement with the blades.

PAUL SAPPINGTON. 

